"It is better to make good quality wet silage than bad quality high dry matter silage," he said.

Prof Roger Wilkins of the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research said: "There is a view that the higher animal intakes achieved with dry grass silage will increase production, but this is not backed up by trials," he said. "In most cases research shows a depressed performance a hectare from animals fed dry silage (35% DM) compared with unwilted crops (21% DM).

Prof Wilkins cited results of Eurowilt studies carried out at the former Grassland Research Institute, Hurley, to compare high and low dry matter systems.

"Losses were slightly lower with the wilted silages and they gave higher dry matter intake," he said.